Policies for Urban Open Spaces in Divided Germany 1945-1989

La conférence sera présentée en anglais mais la discussion se déroulera en français et en anglais.

Planning for urban spaces was a key question in the reconstruction of the cities in divided post-World-War II Germany. While in the first decade West-German planners gave priority to the rebuilding of the massively destroyed cities according to the needs of the automobile society the socialist state projected extended open spaces for political manfestations. The lecture will retrace the general lines of planning for urban open spaces in both German states as well as present prominent cases of individual cities. It will also give attention to the actors involved and to the patterns of appropriaton of open spaces by the civil society.